A team with proper priorities

January 01, 2006|JACOB SANDOCK Tribune Staff Writer

When Deb Powell came into this past year as co-president of the Marian High School Football Mom's Club, along with Renee Bulger, she did so with some new ideas. It would no longer be enough to simply have meetings and cook pasta for the guys the night the before game. Powell, whose twin sons Blake and Blair were juniors on last season's Marian squad, decided she would like the players to go beyond excelling on the gridiron. She wanted the team to do something charitable. Specifically, to participate in the 2005 Buddy Walk-a-Thon fundraiser for the local chapter of the Down Syndrome Family Support and Advocacy Group. The annual walk in Mishawaka raises awareness and money for grants, scholarships and assistance for families with Down Syndrome children. One of the event organizers, Cheryl Speheger, is good friends with Powell and has a son, Matthew, with Down Syndrome, who was for all intensive purposes Powell's inspiration in her initiative. "Matthew is actually mine and my husband Roger's Godson and he's very dear to all of us," Powell said. "That's why we decided to get involved." Moreover, Powell figured it was only logical for Marian football to support the event. "The buddy walk is always at Battell Park," said Powell, "and when my kids started going to Marian I figured, if Notre Dame can send kids (to the walk) to represent a Catholic college, why can't Marian High School -- which is literally just a few blocks away -- send representatives as well?" The football season can get hectic for student athletes. Players tend to become overly consumed with themselves. "My kids live eat and breathe football during the season and I thought getting them involved in the Buddy Walk would be a nice way, No. 1, to have the football team do some community service," said Powell, who works in the Marian business office. "And let's face it, our kids all have pretty nice lives. A lot of them are not exposed to other types of lives and I just think that sometimes they need to do things that help them appreciate how good their life is." Bulger, whose son John was also a junior on last year's team, couldn't have agreed more. Powell and Bulger still had to clear it all up with Head Coach Reggie Glon, but this was a mere formality once Glon understood what the event was all about. "Coach Glon said, 'If you guys want to put this together, that's great just as long as it doesn't interfere with a major game,'" Powell recalled with a laugh. "You know how that goes. But, really, he was very gracious. He said he'd be happy to work with us." Glon devised a way for the football players to contribute -- even if not through attendance. "He made a deal with his players that whoever could raise $10 or more for the Buddy Walk would get out of conditioning for a week," said Powell, who understood the draw of the deal. And so, a group of self-consumed (in a good way) football players with demanding scholastic schedules and hardly enough time to come up for air brought in nearly $800 for this year's Buddy Walk -- not enough to teach the whole world about Down Syndrome, but more than enough to prove that there are still thoughtful and caring people in the world. Even teenage football players. "A lot of them brought in the minimum $10," Powell said. "But then, some of them brought in $50 or more. The bottom line was that this was a great motivator for the players." It all comes back to a little boy named Matthew, who has had quite an effect on a large number of people. "Matthew has changed a lot of lives in terms of people who know him and also in being able to help people branch out and be able to understand and accept Down Syndrome people," said Speheger of her son. "He has unconditional love that is, well, unexplainable. He's touched so many hearts. Sometimes I think he's the only one who's got it right." Matthew's influence has rubbed of on Powell's sons as well, who have known him since he was born. "He's a great little guy," said Blair, a cornerback for the Knights. "He's amazing. There's no way he can't bring a smile to anyone's face. I could be in a really bad mood over a loss or something and he'll just end up putting the biggest smile on my face. He's just so happy." "Being a part of this brought us together more as a team and as individuals," said Blake, a running back. "We all came together to raise money for a worthy effort which is basically to show that Down Syndrome people are just like anyone else."